Bicester Apprentice candidate hears ‘You’re fired’

Michelle Niziol, from Bicester, is a contestant on The Apprentice 2016. Credit BBC/Boundless/Jim Marks PNL-160928-164833001

Published:22:01Thursday 06 October 2016

The Bicester candidate from The Apprentice, Michelle Niziol, has said she wouldn’t change a thing despite going out in the first week.

The first episode of the latest series of the popular BBC television show aired last night, Thursday, which showed Michelle, 35, picked as the project manager for the women for the first task.

The property consultant and former Cooper School student, was among nine men and nine women vying for £250,000 of investment from Sir Alan Sugar.

The first task saw the teams taken to a lock up containing antiques and collectibles where they had to sort the trash from the treasure to sell to the public or trade.

Despite making more money selling items at Camden Market than the men’s team team did on Portobello Road, the women’s team lost due to making less money at the car boot sale.

And Michelle, as project leader for the losing team, was the first to hear Lord Sugar say, “You’re fired.”

Speaking to the Bicester Review, Michelle said she ‘absolutely loved’ the experience and wouldn’t change a thing.

She said: “The whole experience was absolutely brilliant – I loved it. From the audition to actually going through the whole process was amazing.”

She added: “When you are in the boardroom it is a really intense situation. Sitting opposite Lord Sugar, my business idol, Karen and Claude is such an intense process and is terrifying to be honest. You are fighting for your life. Initially, you don’t know how well you have done and you wait for those figures to be released. I was with Paul from the men’s team and we knew whichever one of us fails the task, has a really good chance of going home.”

Michelle said she was not used to working in such a big team with massive personalities and every single woman in her team was a strong candidate, but everyone was co-operative and she did not find it difficult to manage them.

“Overall, it was a brilliant experience,” she added. “I got to know the other candidates really well. During the task it’s business, but when the task is over, everyone does get on. Everyone was really quite lovely.”

Born in London, Michelle has lived in Bicester since the age of 11 with her mum, who now lives in London, and sister. Michelle is married to David and they have a three-year-old son, Zachary. She runs property consultancy firm IMS.

She said despite going out first, there was nothing she would change. She said: “I don’t ever have any regrets. I wouldn’t change a thing and I believe things happen for a reason. I was shocked I was out first – no-one wants to be out first. I went in believing I could win, I was really just unlucky. Lord Sugar did say when I walked out of the boardroom I was an astute businesswoman, which was quite a compliment from him.”